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In this easily manageable (size wise) book, Ms Shifflett gives a brief description of Aikido and Ki then gets into the "meat of the matter". She explains Ki very clearly and gives lots of examples of how to incorporate it into your Aikido and your life.

I had put off reviewing this book, waiting for someone more qualified to do so, but since nobody has...I had hesitated for two reasons:

First, while I have never met the author, based upon an ongoing e-mail correspondence, I very much consider her a friend. Two, my own practice of aikido is in a very different style. It has occurred to me that this may actually be an advantage in judging the book: would a naive reader, upon opening and perusing this book, gain an understanding of the why and how of ki exercises? Definitely yes; the word "primer" would perhaps be even more apt than "sampler." Ms. Shifflett's breezy tone and relaxed line drawings (including, recognizably, George Simcox Sensei and Craig Hocker, as well as the author) invite the reader to explore; her very concise "how-to's" are liberally sprinkled with anecdotes that keep the book flowing, never bogging down in instructions.

While it happens not to be my cup of tea, this book has a place any well-rounded aikido library (my copy is staying put), and I strongly recommend this book to anybody who is beginning to practice shin shin toitsu style aikido or who may be curious about what it has to offer.

All this talk of this book and that book has got me to thinking. Something that I have to do a lot of these days since I resprained my trick ankle again!!! and can't play on the mat yet just moving slowly.

Anyway I bought Carol's book from Amazon. Sorry I didn't realize who you were, Carol, until after I ordered it as a "New Release". Turns out I'm one of the lucky ones with a 1st edition. (Some day this book will put my kids through college -- I just know it.) What I really want to do is get it signed but I'll probably wear the ink off the pages before I run into Carol and there is no way that I will part with it nor risk it the Postal (lack of) Service.

Back to the subject at hand.

For all of you non Ki Society types, this book is much more understandable than any other book on Ki. Tohei's book are gathering dust (literally) on my Budo library shelf whereas this book travels with me often along with Westbrook and Ratti's "Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere." BTW these are the two books that I recomend to people who want an Aikido book.

Yes I like the sketches of all the different people who I occasionally converse with on the list but what I like most is that the information is presented in a clear, concise and non-Aikifruity way, I have had both good and bad experiences in Dojo's who claim allegience to Ki Society, and the same for many of the other affiliations so I consider my self fairly unbaised. I am not receiving anything for the promotion of this book.

First and foremost, I bought this book kind of blindly. That is, I thought the title was simply \"KI in Aikido.\" The catalogue I purchased it from did not show the subtitle \"A Sampler of Ki Excercises.\" I was looking for a treatise on Ki, a deeper understanding of how to work with Ki in my Aikido practice. An argument could be made that yes, through the excercises in this book, that will happen. But I was dissapointed that there was very little presented on the application of Ki in relation to actual Aikido techniques.
Within the first 30 pages or so, Shifflett includes brief sections about Aikido, Ki, Center (one-point) and testing for Ki, followed by a section on sitting in seiza, Hanmi, rolling, and tenkan. These pages lacked depth, but might be informative to those in their first few months of practice or to those considering practicing Aikido. Others may want to skim the first 30 pages as some of the stories, quotes, and anecdotes are interesting both here and throughout the rest of Shifflett\'s work. The rest of the book is divided into several sections, each with a number of Ki excercises. These sections are: Keep One Point, Relax Completely, Keep Weight Underside, Extend Ki, Ki Breathing, and Meditation. There is a nice section at the end entitled \"Books and Movies.\" I especially liked the page on how the Star Wars Trilogy relates to aspects of Ki and Aikido. Appendices include information about Ki Society Dojos and Additional Excercises.
Without actually doing the exercises, one can get through the material rather quickly, say in one evening or so. If you are looking for an in-depth discussion on Ki this is not the book for you. All in all, the value of Shifflett\'s book is in the excercises (and anecdotes)- which appears to be the intended purpose. It is a good reference on a practical level. Shifflett does a nice job, I was just looking for something different.